World's best airline? It has to be Asian

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This was published 11 years ago

World's best airline? It has to be Asian

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They’re calling it the Asian century and that’s where the money is when it comes to air travel. And it’s more than a bunch of clichés, as last week’s Skytrax awards demonstrated.

All but one carrier rated in the top 10 in Skytrax’s World Airline Awards come from the region that stretches from the Persian Gulf to Japan and the only exception, Turkish Airlines, lives a couple of kilometres from the Asian border.

And I’m especially pleased to report that at least four of the top 10, including the top two, are airlines committed to industry-leading economy seating space on their long-haul services.

World's number one ... Qatar Airways.

World's number one ... Qatar Airways.Credit: Reuters

Because Skytrax, an aviation industry consulting firm, has gone the extra mile in ensuring that its annual awards are transparent and (so far) apparently uncorrupted, they’re like money in the bank for the winners.

Through the year, airline awards are a dime a dozen and are used eagerly by carriers to gain a marketing advantage.

Skytrax says its World Airline Awards have “no link to any industry association or related bodies”. In a swipe at some awards, it says there is no payment for inclusion in the survey (this year some 18.8 million travellers were surveyed), no payment to attend the awards ceremony and “no chance for airlines to self-complete the survey”.

The awards “are not subscriber based, or a profit-driven self-interest type of award program”.

Skytrax also uses the annual survey to compile a ranking of airlines from one to 100, which illustrates that, in an industry so reliant on the preferences of individual travellers, there are only the quick and the dead.

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Western airlines like British Airways and Qantas that were flying high in the 1990s are now also-rans.

In just a year, Air New Zealand has slid from seventh to 17th in the rankings. The fact that Virgin Australia (#12 in the world) convincingly outranked its arch-rival Qantas (#15) and was voted the best airline in the Asia-Pacific region is an invaluable tool to persuade its competitor’s lucrative business flyers switch brands.

The fact that Indonesia’s Garuda outranked both Virgin Australia and Qantas in the eyes of travellers and was voted the world's regional airline of the year is one of the surprises. But it indicates just what can be achieved by a competent management team, headed by former banker Emirsyah Satar, that has set about rebuilding an airline that was previously seen as a cheap and dangerous Third World carrier.

With a near-new fleet of Boeings and Airbuses, Garuda says it is aiming to be a “five-star” airline. It has been removed from the European Union’s list of banned carriers and will more than double its fleet of 81 planes in the next three years.

Even Tiger Airways (#86) outranks industry stalwarts like Royal Jordanian Airways and Air Pacific (Fiji), which shows that it must be doing something right. It, too, acquired a poor reputation for safety and punctuality up to and including its grounding in Australia a year ago for being an “imminent danger” to public safety. It’s now closely scrutinised by the Australian safety regulator and its on-time reliability, once the worst, is now the best in the industry.

It’s most encouraging that the best airlines are also the most generous with the space they allocate to those in cattle class. As the world gets wealthier, its people are better fed and physically bigger. They’re harder than ever to wedge into those tiny economy seats still used by space misers like Qantas and Virgin Australia.

Their accountants should be forced to fly down the back of the bus at least once a week.

Have you travelled recently with one of the top 10 Skytrax airlines? Is there an airline at the top of the rankings that doesn't deserve the accolade? Is there a dark horse way down the rankings that should have been promoted? Post a comment below.

Here's the full top 100 from the World Airline Awards.

1 Qatar Airways
2 Asiana Airlines
3 Singapore Airlines
4 Cathay Pacific Airways
5 ANA All Nippon Airways
6 Etihad Airways
7 Turkish Airlines
8 Emirates
9 Thai Airways International
10 Malaysia Airlines
11 Garuda Indonesia
12 Virgin Australia
13 EVA Air
14 Lufthansa
15 Qantas Airways
16 Korean Air
17 Air New Zealand
18 Swiss Int'l Air Lines
19 Air Canada
20 Hainan Airlines
21 Dragonair
22 AirAsia
23 Oman Air
24 Aegean Airlines
25 South African Airways
26 Virgin America
27 Bangkok Airways
28 British Airways
29 China Southern Airlines
30 Jetstar Airways
31 Finnair
32 TAM Airlines
33 China Airlines
34 KLM Royal Dutch Airlines
35 Japan Airlines
36 SilkAir
37 Air China
38 LAN Airlines
39 Austrian Airlines
40 AirAsiaX
41 easyJet
42 TACA Airlines
43 Westjet
44 China Eastern Airlines
45 Hong Kong Airlines
46 Jetstar Asia
47 Vietnam Airlines
48 Air France
49 Alaska Airlines
50 Virgin Atlantic
51 Southwest Airlines
52 jetBlue Airways
53 Air Astana
54 Azul Airlines
55 Indigo Airlines
56 Avianca
57 Delta Air Lines
58 Jet Airways
59 bmi British Midland
60 American Eagle Airlines
61 Copa Airlines
62 Air Nostrum
63 Brussels Airlines
64 United Airlines
65 Air Berlin
66 Kulula
67 TAP Air Portugal
68 SAS Scandinavian Airlines
69 TRIP Airlines
70 SriLankan Airlines
71 Air Mauritius
72 Transaero Airlines
73 Baboo Airlines
74 Norwegian
75 NIKI
76 Air Transat
77 Hong Kong Express
78 Kenya Airways
79 Kingfisher Airlines
80 Hawaiian Airlines
82 Gulf Air
83 Alitalia
84 American Airlines
85 Aeroflot Russian Airlines
86 Tiger Airways
87 Saudi Arabian Airlines
88 Icelandair
89 Shenzhen Airlines
90 Porter Airlines
91 Aer Arann
92 Tianjin Airlines
93 Nok Air
94 Royal Jordanian Airlines
95 Egyptair
96 Air Pacific
97 Aer Lingus
98 Aer Busan
99 Cyprus Airways
100 Skymark Airlines

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